Impulse counter



Sept. 26, 1961 K. FUGLISTER IMPULSE COUNTER Filed March 14, 1956WMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/IIIIIJIII/I United States Patent 3,001,705IMPULSE COUNTER Karl Fugl1ster, Geneva, Switzerland, assignor to Sodeco,Societe des Compteurs de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland Filed Mar. 14,1956, Ser. No. 571,403 Ciairns priority, application Switzerland Mar.15, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 235131) In certain types of impulse counterswhich serve in particular for the recording of tariff-charges fortelephone calls through a number of digit-carrying drums correspondingto the successive decimal orders and associated with pinions for thetransfer of the successive figures to be carried over, said pinionsbeing supported by a common rocker member, a power unit controls theunit drum to make it progress intermittently through one half pitch.

Such prior power units include generally an electromagnet which drawsinwardly and then releases at each counting impulse a blade connectedwith a rocking control lever the arms of which extend to either side ofa star-shaped member coaxially rigid with a primary toothed wheel; thelatter meshes with a unit pinion meshing in its turn with the peripheralteeth provided on one side of the unit-recording drum, the two arms ofsaid lever being adapted to shift in succession through one half pitchthe star-shaped member and the primary toothed wheel during thecorresponding half-oscillation of the lever produced by the power unit.In such known impulse counters, if the rhythm is rapid, whenever theoperative tip of the first arm of the rocking lever moves away from thebottom of the interval separating two successive points of thestar-shaped member as provided by the breaking of the electromagnetenergizing current, it may occur that the star-shaped member and theprimary toothed wheel after impinging against the unit pinion so as todrive it through one half tooth interval execute a slight recedingmovement as a result of this impact. As a consequence of this recedingmovement, one of the points of the star-shaped member which should besubjected to the impulse of the operative tip of the second arm of therocking lever for executing the second half of the annular shiftingthrough one tenth of a revolution, since the unit drum is beinginvolved, is now outside the path of said operative tip so that it is nolonger subjected to the mechanical impulse required. The operative tipof the first arm of the lever at the moment of the followingenergization of the electro-magnet no longer impinges on the proper sideof an arm of the star-shaped member and impinges instead on the oppositeside so as to produce a rearward motion of the unit drum through onehalf pitch. The recording of the impulses is therefore erroneous.

My invention has for its object to remove this drawback and it covers animpulse counter of the type referred to, wherein at least one brakingspring is located in a manner such as will prevent any possible rearwardmovement of the star-shaped member and of the primary toothed wheelafter the end of any half oscillation as a consequence of the clearancerequired between the unit pinion of the gear on the one hand and theprimary toothed wheel and the teeth of the unit drum on the other hand.

Accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example two preferredembodiments of the invention. In said drawings:

FIG. 1 is a elevational view of a first embodiment seen endwise in aplane perpendicular to the axis of the digitcarrying drums.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are detail elevational views on a larger scalecorresponding to FIG. 1 at two different moments of operation.

FIG. 4 is a partial lateral elevational view of this first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a partial simplified diametrical cross-section of a secondembodiment.

In the first embodiment illustrated, the common shaft 1 for thedigit-carrying drum is carried by two bearings formed in the terminalplates or uprights 2 and 3 of the frame. Only one digit-carrying drum 4has been illustrated, which drum is provided for the recording of units.Said drum is provided with a peripheral series of teeth 5 meshing withthe unit pinion 6, which latter is mounted loose on a spindle 7 carriedby a rocking member which is not illustrated. The other transfer pinionsserving for carrying over the successive drums corresponding to thesuccessive decimal orders are also carried by the spindle 7.

The unit pinion 6 meshes also with the primary wheel 8 carrying twentyteeth and which is coaxially rigid with a star-shaped member 9 carryingten points or projections (FIG. 4). The gear 8-9 is mounted loose on thedrum shaft 1.

The power unit for the impulse counter is constituted by anelectromagnet 10 which is periodically energized through the impulses ofthe counting current and is associated with a rocking lever L pivotallysecured to a spindle 12, said lever being rigid with a blade of magneticmetal 13 urged away from the electromagnet by a return spring 14. Saidrocking lever includes two arms ending each with an operative point 15or 16 adapted to cooperate with the teeth of the star-shaped member 9.

When a counting current impulse energizes the electromagnet 10, thelatter attracts the blade 13 and the lever L rocks in the direction ofthe arrow F 1. The operative tip 15 of said lever pushes then the tooth17 of the starshaped member 9 and carries the latter along in thedirection of the arrow F3 until the said tip 15 reaches the bottom ofthe recess or interval between the star points 17 and 18 as clearlyshown in H6. 2. From this moment onwards, the current energizing theelectromagnet 10 is switched off and the spring 14 urges the blade 13back in the direction of arrow F2 which leads to a correspondingshifting of the lever L in the same direction. Consequently the secondoperative tip 16 of the lever will act normally on the tooth 19 of thestar-shaped member 9 which is thus shifted together with the primarytoothed wheel 8 through one half pitch. Simultaneously the firstoperative tip 15 of the lever moves out of the recess between the twoteeth 17 and 18 of the star-shaped member. It may occur that the unitconstituted by the latter and by the wheel 8 abuts against the unitpinion 6 and is subjected consequently to a slight receding motion as aresult of such an impact. This receding movement constrains the point 19on the star-shaped member to occupy the position illustrated indot-anddash lines 19 in FIG. 2, instead of remaining in the positionillustrated in solid lines. Consequently, said point no longer lies inthe path 20 followed by the second operative tip 16 of the rocking leverL under the action of the return spring 14. The star-shaped member 9 isconsequently no longer subjected to the mechanical impulse required foroperation and the operative tip 15 on the first lever arm will at themoment of the following energization of the electromagnet impingeagainst the side 18b of the tooth 18 of the star-shaped member insteadof against the other side 18a as should normally occur (compare FIGS. 2and 3). Consequently, the star-shaped member 9 moves rearwardly throughone half pitch and the impulse is not accurately recorded.

Now, according to the present invention, this risk of an erroneouscounting is cut out through a braking spring 21 secured through a screwand a nut 22 to the plate 3 of the frame (FIG. 4). Said spring engageslaterally the primary toothed wheel 8 and its free end engages theinterval between two successive teeth on the latter. The spring 21brakes thus the system 8-9 and prevents it from receding as aconsequence of an impact against the pinion 6 or of a recoil movement ofthe latter, after one of its teeth has impinged against the teeth 5on-the first or unit-recording drum on the shaft 7. This recoil of thepinion 6 may occur as a consequence of the clearance which is requiredin the gear between the parts 5 and 6 on the one hand and between theparts 6 and 8 on the other hand.

The braking spring 21 constrains the point or tooth 19 on thestar-shaped member to remain in its accurate solid-line position in FIG.2. The risk of any receding movement of the rotary system 8-9 is thuscut out and the counting is always performed accurately.

In the second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, there is provided atleast one elastic braking washer 24 between the return to zero cam 25 onone of the digitcarrying drums 26 and the hub 27 of the adjacent drum28. This washer which is mounted loose on the shaft 1 may beadvantageously inserted betweenthe toothed disc 5 of the unit drum 4 andthe primary toothed wheel 8.

What I claim is:

In an impulse counter comprising a plurality of successive coaxialdigit-carrying drums provided with peripheral teeth, transfer pinionsmeshing with any two successive drums and a'unit transfer pinioncontrolling the input drum, the combination of a toothed wheel coaxialwith the drums meshing permanently with the unit transfer pinion, astar-shaped member coaxially rigid with said toothed wheel, meanscontrolled by electric impulses to shift angularly in a predetermineddirection the starshaped member through successive half pitches, asingle blade spring extending obliquely with reference to the plane ofsaid toothed wheel and the tip of which is adapted to engage insuccession the intervals between the teeth of said toothed wheel andmeans securing the end of said spring opposed to the tip thereof to astationary point.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS465,269 Hopkins Dec. 15, 1891 1,259,311 Steele Mar. 12, 1918 1,261,449Slye Apr. 2, 1918 1,798,941 Helgeby Mar. 31, 1931 2,049,499 HaseltonAug. 4, 1936 2,360,927 Adell Oct. 25, 1944 2,522,734 Wood Sept. 19, 1950

